societynoun/səˈsaɪ.ə.ti/

• 1

  A long-standing group of people sharing cultural aspects such as language, dress, norms of behavior and artistic forms.

  • This society has been known for centuries for its colorful clothing and tight-knit family structure.
  • He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record.
• 2

  A group of people who meet from time to time to engage in a common interest; an association or organization.

  • It was then that they decided to found a society of didgeridoo-playing unicyclists.
  • At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors.[…]In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
• 3

  The sum total of all voluntary interrelations between individuals.

  • The gap between Western and Eastern societies seems to be narrowing.
  • Policing the relationship between government and business in a free society is difficult. Businesspeople have every right to lobby governments, and civil servants to take jobs in the private sector.
• 4

  Companionship or association with one's fellows; friendly or intimate intercourse.

  • The society of friends is one of life's great joys.
  • This was Jo’s favorite refuge, and here she loved to retire with half a dozen russets and a nice book, to enjoy the quiet and the society of a pet rat who lived near by and didn’t mind her a particle.[…]
• 5

  The people of one’s country or community taken as a whole.

  • Our global society develops in fits and starts.
  • If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the ever more expensive and then universally known killing hazards of gasoline cars:[…].
• 6

  High society.

  • Smith was first introduced into society at the Duchess of Grand Fenwick's annual rose garden party.
  • "What a charming amusement for young people this is, Mr. Darcy! There is nothing like dancing after all. I consider it as one of the first refinements of polished society."
• 7

  lawA number of people joined by mutual consent to deliberate, determine and act toward a common goal.